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401k distribution after death

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G

gear

Guest
my father died a year ago this march. he left a 401k plan with no named beneficary. he had recently remarried to another woman and had been married for one year seven months, at the time of his death. when he divorced my mother, she quitclaimed his 401k and it was awarded to him as his sole and seperate property, but like i said he remarried and when he died she took it all. during the time of his employment he worked for one company and it was bought out before he remarried. the 401k plan was transferred to a new plan and he did not name any beneficiary. he had his four children named as beneficiaries on his original plan. i dont know what to do im trying to find california law that puts the pension back as his sole and seperate property so that the children can benefit from his lifetime of hard work, not some lady who wasnt even around that long. please help.
 


ALawyer

Senior Member
I am afraid that beneficiaries of a married person on a 401k are a matter of Federal pension law, not state intestate distribution law.
 
A

advisor10

Guest
3-9-2002

DEAR GEAR:

Unfortunately, 401K law is federal law that would overrule any state probate laws.

It was a very serious mistake, but an understandable one, that your father made by not getting his beneficiary designation form filled out (his company should have insisted that it be done). The law is that the money must go to the current spouse, unless the current spouse signs a waiver for that money to go to someone else (which I don't think will happen in this case).

Did you all get anything else from his estate?
Is his probate estate still open in court or has it closed?
How much was in the 401K account?

SINCERELY,

advisor
 
G

gear

Guest
dear advisor,
thank you for your response to my problem. im sorry to hear that she probably will be able to keep all of the money. i was hoping that because my mother quitclaimed to the 401k and it was awarded to him as his sole and seperate property we might have a chance of getting a portion of it. do you know where it states that in the law that the spouse gets the proceeds when there is no designated beneficiary. im having trouble finding this info out. to answer your questions about the probate process i must get you up to date on the entire situation. when my father died he had his houste under his name on the grant deed. about three months after his death his widow came to me and my siblings and said she had found a grant deed adding her to it as joint tenants. she gave me a copy of the unrecorded deed which was notorized but looked shady to me. she said she had found it in his closet in one of his bags. anyway at this point we are trying to negotiate a price to buy her out of the house. she wants fifty percent of the equity. we want to give her one third as probate law states. only problem is that she has that grant deed which she went ahead and recorded after his death. another problem is that my father left a small life insurance of 66,ooo dollars which is a group life ins. under the name of my siblings. she is also claiming the life insurance saying that community property money was used to pay the premiums and that she is entitled to part of it. at this point she already has received the 401k worth 27,000 dollars, and 6,000 dollars for a check my father received for his truck he had totalled before he died. never paid for his funeral. and the grant deed and life insurance she wants a piece of. this whole situation is very frustrating and im trying to get better informed. sorry this message is so long. i tried to get to the point but i also wanted you to understand the person im dealing with. thank you. gear
 
A

advisor10

Guest
3-11-2002

DEAR GEAR:

I don't know whether 401K is written somewhere as federal law, so you would need to speak with a labor law or employment law or pension benefits attorney (or speak with a personnel/human relations department manager at a large company) to get more information on where to find out about the 401K regulations.

The way the widow has handled the grant deed may or may not be legal, but the timing and handling of it is highly suspicious. You need to take it to a real estate attorney to find out if what she has done is legal. I'll bet there is something legally wrong with it that would enable the siblings to get the upper hand on this property.

If you know the name of the insurance company where the $66,000 policy is held, please contact the company and get that money yourself--she has no rights to it whatsover--IT MUST BE PAID OUT TO THE NAMED BENEFICIARIES--YOU AND YOUR SIBLINGS. If you don't know the name of the company, negotiate with her to get that information out of her in whatever way you can.

SINCERELY,

advisor ([email protected])
 

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